USC, COMET team up for new shuttle service.

A new contract between the Central Midlands Regional Transit Authority and the University of South Carolina will provide a 12-bus Carolina Shuttle fleet for USC students and the general public.

Under terms of the $1.5 million annual contract, five to eight buses will be used vehicles from the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada. The COMET will provide the remaining buses from its existing fleet. The university will pay 100% of the cost of procuring and refurbishing the existing buses, according to a new release from the COMET.

By the spring of 2021, 12 new buses will replace the used vehicles. USC will pay 15% of a local match associated with the purchase of the new buses, with the remaining 85% of the cost coming from a Federal Transit Administration grant, according to the release.

Bus stops and shelters and other transit amenities will be maintained by the COMET, which anticipates adding nearly a million passenger trips and an additional 250,000...